1. Field of the Invention
One aspect of the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, and in particular, to an information processing apparatus that uses an organic EL device as a display.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a mobile phone, which is an example of an information processing apparatus, is configured not only to a simple communication function by telephone call but also to have an address book function, a mail function through a network, such as a base station or Internet, a browser function for reading Web pages, a music control function for listening to audio data, and a function for receiving terrestrial digital one-segment broadcasting. The mobile phone is configured to play received images based on a terrestrial digital one-segment broadcasting or various video contents acquired by other devices.
Accordingly, a user has a growing need for watching the video contents better. In order to meet the user's need, a recent mobile phone is suggested in which a high-brightness device, such as an organic EL device, is substituted for a Thin Film Transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display, which has been widely used hitherto. The organic Electronic Luminescent (EL) device is a display device that performs display by using an organic material, which emits light when a voltage is applied. In the organic EL device, an organic material of diamine series is deposited on a glass surface, and is self-luminous. For this reason, the organic EL device can be reduced in thickness, as compared with the known display device.
In the organic EL device, vivid display is achieved with high-brightness, but the organic material constituting the organic EL element may be deteriorated due to heat caused by light-emission since the light-emitting layer of the organic EL device is self-luminous. The deterioration of the organic material causes a decrease in light-emission brightness in the organic EL element and unstable light-emission. Furthermore, if the organic EL elements are continuously driven for a long time to display a same image at a same position on a screen, the screen may be burned.
If the screen is burned, it is difficult to use the mobile phone as a product. Accordingly, in order to prevent the screen from being burned, it is necessary to improve the device, such as an organic EL device, or to perform software control.
For this purpose, a technology is suggested in which the display device is divided into a plurality of display areas, and a display area for image information display is changed in accordance with temporal information (see JP-A-2003-223160, for instance). According to the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-223160, it is possible to suppress current consumption and to prevent the display device from being burned.
According to the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-223160, a display area for image information display can be changed to one of a plurality of prescribed display areas in accordance with temporal information. In this case, however, the display area of image information cannot but be changed to a prescribed display area. Of course, in the technology described in JP-A-2003-223160, a plurality of prescribed display areas may be appropriately changed in a pixel unit in accordance with the user's preference. In this case, it is time-consuming for the user to appropriately change the display area in a pixel unit in order to suppress occurrence burning in the screen, and it is not preferable in usability. In addition, the change of the display area for image information according to temporal information for every predetermined time results to an increase in power consumption.
Further, according to the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-223160, a display area for image information display can be changed to another display area from among a plurality of prescribed display areas in accordance with the temporal information. However, when a same wallpaper is set on a standby screen for a long time, the screen may be burned.